Former Barcelona and Cameroon star speaks with great admiration about South African football

The polished floors of Melrose Arch's La Liga event witnessed an unexpected football elegy as former Barcelona midfielder Alex Song cast his mind back to Bafana Bafana's glory days. With South Africa preparing for June friendlies against Tanzania and Mozambique, the Cameroonian legend's voice carried a tinge of melancholy as he reminisced about the "unbelievable" South African teams of yesteryear.

"Twenty years ago when I was coming through, watching Bafana was something special," Song reflected, his words hanging in the air like the fading echoes of a vuvuzela. While praising Hugo Broos' current bronze medalists, the two-time AFCON winner couldn't hide his belief that African football - indeed global football - has lost a certain magic dust that once made teams like Benni McCarthy's Bafana so enchanting.

As South Africa prepares to test their modern iteration at Peter Mokaba and Loftus Versfeld stadiums, Song's comments serve as both compliment and challenge - a reminder of past brilliance that today's generation must now live up to. The young stars Broos is nurturing may yet prove Song wrong, but for now, his words stand as a poignant tribute to African football's golden age.